Turkey welcomes DPRK's decision to return to six-party talks

Turkey on Friday welcomed the decision by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to return to the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

"We welcomed DPRK's decision to return to the table for negotiations after talks in Beijing on Oct. 31 with envoys of the United States and the People's Republic of China," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Turkey attaches great importance to nuclear disarmament. We wish that six-party negotiations will resume soon and will yield positive results," it added.

The six-party talks, which involve China, the DPRK, the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since last November.

Now the talks are expected to resume soon after talks between envoys from China, the DPRK and the United States earlier this week in Beijing.

The revived talks were expected to focus on implementing an agreement reached last September in which the DPRK pledged to abandon its nuclear program for a range of rewards including aid, security guarantees and normalized relations with the United States.

The DPRK also hoped to address financial disputes with the United States under the framework of the talks.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Oct. 14, imposing sanctions on Pyongyang in spheres related to its nuclear, ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction after the DPRK conducted its first ever nuclear test.

Source: Xinhua